Why Honour is universally understood

Janet Andrewartha is the latest leading lady to take the title role in Honour, writes Robin Usher.

There seemed nothing important about the play Honour when it first opened in Melbourne in 1995, except as an indication of the continued development of its author, Joanna Murray-Smith.

No one could have predicted that it would mark her transition to maturity, or that, over the next nine years, it would become one of Australia's most translated dramas, available in about 20 languages.

The lead role has been keenly sought by mature actors everywhere following Julia Blake's first Playbox performance and the decision by Oscar winner Meryl Streep to read the role at the 1995 New York Stage and Film Festival.

The latest actor to take on the character of Honour is Janet Andrewartha in a new production by the Melbourne Theatre Company. The MTC's director, Simon Phillips, returned from an overseas trip last year saying the best show he had seen was the National Theatre production of Honour in London. It was an obvious step to include it in this year's program.

Andrewartha was approached, even though she has not been on stage for the past four years because of her role in Neighbours. The series celebrates its 20th anniversary next year and has just been sold in the US: "If I knew the secret to why it has endured, I would bottle it," she says.

Of being cast in Honour, Andrewartha says, "I read the script and just loved the role. I was so happy that I could fit it in with my television requirements. I've had other stage offers, but they never worked out."

She is not surprised that mature actors treasure the role, describing the script as dense and poetic.

"There are such human themes as ageing and it deals with love, passion and lust."

Dame Eileen Atkins won an Olivier Award for her London performance last year and, in the United States, Jane Alexander received a Tony Award nomination when she chose the role for her return to the Broadway stage in 1996.

The play describes the breakdown of a marriage when a successful middle-aged journalist (played by William Zappa) falls for a younger woman (Amanda Douge) who is interviewing him for a media profile. His wife, Honour, and his daughter (Kellie Jones) have to deal with the consequences.

Murray-Smith, who won her first of two Premier's Literary Awards with the play - the second was for last year's Rapture - is surprised at the play's international popularity.

"I had no greater ambition than for a good premiere in 1995," she says. "I'm in ecstatic shock the play has endured."

She says this was the play that helped her to understand what it was about her writing that made it more universal than parochial: classical human dilemmas and pared back language.

The play dramatises the modern conflict between self-indulgence and responsible behaviour that affects everyone.

"We are living in an age of grand self-permissiveness," Murray-Smith says.

"It impacts on every element of modern existence - from corporate governance to mothering, and everyone has to work out how to find a balance."

She says the play also highlights feminist issues such as the choice between career and nurturing.

"Women, whether consciously or unconsciously, are grappling with these issues and we cannot pretend there are any definite answers."

Andrewartha says the play challenges the actors by putting the characters through so many changes.

"They end up wiser," she says. "If there is any damage done, it is to the daughter. But it is up to the audience to decide how much they have progressed, if at all."

She believes the play is so demanding on audiences because it questions the value of love.

"It is the most precious and wonderful human emotion that everyone in this society thinks can solve most problems," she says. "But to see it so easily slung away is incredibly intense, and even frightening."

She found the role difficult at first, and was exhausted by the demands of the first run-through.

"It takes so much energy to find the emotional connections for the first time. It gets easier once you know where you're going with the character."

She paid tribute to the director, Kate Cherry, describing her as generous and helpful. Andrewartha found it different from her work on Neighbours: "You only have to do it once and then it's shot and you're off the hook," she laughs.

She is a very respected stage actor who was getting up to three roles a year, but she found she needed more regular work four years ago when her younger daughter was 10.

"I wanted to be in Melbourne and not have to tour so I could be a mum," she says. "That's when Neighbours happened and it's been wonderful for me."

She says it is also a fact that once an actress turns 40, there tends to be less work available. She is away from the show for only six weeks, and will have to return to shooting during the day while performing Honour at night. It is a route pioneered by John Wood and Lisa McCune, and she says television executives realise the benefits in making the performers more contented.

"I'm deliriously happy to be giving a lead performance at the MTC and then be able to return to Neighbours."

Honour opens on Thursday at the Fairfax Studio and has been extended until June 5.